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OSAT Instrumental Music Study Guide

Unofficial practice questions for Oklahoma's OSAT Instrumental/General Music test, field 201, with every recorded example described in words.

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The players heard on a recording are two violinists, a violist and a cellist. Which ensemble is this?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with Oklahoma's Office of Educational Quality and Accountability or Pearson. Bank checked October 15, 2026.

Next step MTEL Music practice by subareaCEOE practice test: OGET

All 50 questions with answers

Subarea I: Listening skills (described in words) 12

  • A recorded first movement presents its themes, works them through other keys and at last brings them back. What is the last of these three main sections of sonata form called? Answer: The recapitulation. Source: Wikipedia, Sonata form, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0001
  • A recorded mariachi group has a deep plucked line under its violins and trumpets. Which instrument of the group plays that bass part? Answer: The guitarrón. Source: Wikipedia, Mariachi, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0003
  • A recording sets a German Romantic poem to music for a solo singer. Which term, used among English speakers interchangeably with "art song", names such a work? Answer: Lied. Source: Wikipedia, Lied, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0003
  • Before a recorded concert begins, one woodwind sounds an A and the rest of the orchestra tunes to it. Which instrument is it? Answer: Oboe. Source: Wikipedia, Oboe, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0002
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Subarea I: Listening skills (described in words), continued

  • The first four bars of a recorded minuet stop on a V chord, and the tune hangs there until the next four bars answer it. Which cadence closes those first four bars? Answer: Half cadence. Source: Wikipedia, Cadence, Common classifications. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0001
  • For one bar of a recorded piece in 6/8, the six eighth notes are accented as three pairs where the ear expects two groups of three. What is this rhythmic device? Answer: Hemiola. Source: Wikipedia, Hemiola, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0001
  • In a recorded violin passage of quick repeated notes the bow seems to bounce lightly on the string. Which bowing technique is heard? Answer: Spiccato. Source: Wikipedia, Spiccato, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0002
  • On a recording a guitar answers each line the singer sings, and the thirds and sevenths of the scale are bent flat. What are those lowered notes called in this genre? Answer: Blue notes. Source: Wikipedia, Blues, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0003
  • On a recording, the men and women of a choir sing one melody together in octaves, with no chords under it. What is the texture? Answer: Monophony. Source: Wikipedia, Monophony, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0001
  • The players heard on a recording are two violinists, a violist and a cellist. Which ensemble is this? Answer: String quartet. Source: Wikipedia, String quartet, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0002
  • The score in 4/4 shows a dotted half note, but on the recording the trumpets let go of it after two beats. How many beats should they have held it? Answer: Three. Source: Wikipedia, Dotted note, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0002
  • Throughout a recorded trio sonata a harpsichord fills in chords above a cello bass line. Which era does this continuo practice mark? Answer: Baroque. Source: Wikipedia, Basso continuo, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0003

Subarea II: Instrumental performance and methodology 16

  • A band director copies pages of a copyrighted method book. What does the first of the four fair use factors of Section 107 ask about the copying? Answer: Whether it is commercial or for nonprofit educational purposes. Source: U.S. Copyright Office, Fair Use Index, About Fair Use. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0006
  • A band director tells a new trumpet player to work on embouchure. What is the director talking about? Answer: The use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue and teeth. Source: Wikipedia, Embouchure, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0005
  • A beginning violinist is tuning. Which four pitches, low to high, should the open strings give? Answer: G, D, A, E. Source: Wikipedia, Violin, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0004
  • A conductor keeps the beat with the right hand. By the usual teaching, what is the other hand mainly for? Answer: Cueing entrances and showing dynamics and phrasing. Source: Wikipedia, Conducting, Technique. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0007
  • A director lays out a full orchestra by its main sections. Which list names the four? Answer: Strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. Source: Wikipedia, Orchestra, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0006
  • A fermata stands over the last chord of a band piece. How long is the chord held? Answer: As long as the performer or conductor chooses. Source: Wikipedia, Fermata, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0007
  • A horn in F plays a written C from a part in treble clef. Which pitch sounds? Answer: The F a perfect fifth below. Source: Wikipedia, Transposing instrument, Reasons for transposing. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0005
  • A jazz ensemble director starts beginning improvisers on the twelve-bar blues. In its basic form, which chords of the key does the progression use? Answer: I, IV and V. Source: Wikipedia, Twelve-bar blues, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0006
  • A piano student wants notes to keep sounding after the keys are released. What does the sustain pedal do to allow it? Answer: It lifts the dampers off the strings. Source: Wikipedia, Piano, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0004
  • A piece for string orchestra is marked col legno. What does the marking ask the players to do? Answer: Use the stick of the bow on the strings. Source: Wikipedia, Col legno, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0004
  • A snare drummer practices RLRR LRLL: two single strokes and then a double stroke. Which rudiment is this? Answer: Paradiddle. Source: Wikipedia, Drum rudiment, Terminology. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0005
  • Edwin Gordon's music learning theory rests on one idea, which he says is to music what thought is to language. What is it? Answer: Audiation. Source: Wikipedia, Gordon music learning theory, Audiation. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0008
  • In conducting, what is the ictus? Answer: The instant at which the beat occurs. Source: Wikipedia, Conducting, Technique. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0007
  • Oklahoma's Ensemble and/or Secondary Music Standards are written at five proficiency levels. Which level is for students who have just started to specialize? Answer: Novice. Source: Oklahoma Academic Standards for Fine Arts (Oklahoma State Department of Education, February 2023), Introduction and Music Overview. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0008
  • Oklahoma's music standards rest on four artistic processes. Under which one do students learn how music conveys meaning by listening to and evaluating musical works? Answer: Responding. Source: Oklahoma Academic Standards for Fine Arts (Oklahoma State Department of Education, February 2023), Introduction and Music Overview. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0008
  • Revised Kodály exercises start from the minor third mi-so and add la, do and re one at a time. Which two syllables are brought in last? Answer: Fa and ti. Source: Wikipedia, Kodály method, Pedagogy. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0008

Subarea III: Music theory and composition 13

  • A band warm-up moves from the F major scale to the minor scale with the same one-flat key signature. Which scale is that? Answer: D minor. Source: Wikipedia, Relative key, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0010
  • A clarinet part is marked mp. How should it be played? Answer: Moderately quiet. Source: Wikipedia, Dynamics (music), Dynamic markings. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0009
  • A composer repeats a short bass motif again and again in the same voice while the upper parts change. What is the repeated figure called? Answer: An ostinato. Source: Wikipedia, Ostinato, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0012
  • A G-clef set on the second line of the staff makes the treble clef. Which note does it fix on that line? Answer: The G above middle C. Source: Wikipedia, Clef, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0009
  • A hymn ends with a IV chord moving to I under the word Amen. Which cadence is this? Answer: Plagal cadence. Source: Wikipedia, Cadence, Common classifications. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0011
  • A key signature has sharps on F, C and G, and the piece ends on its major tonic chord. Which key is it? Answer: A major. Source: Wikipedia, Key signature, Major scale structure. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0009
  • A melody moves only by whole tones, has six notes to the octave and no leading tone. Which scale is it built on? Answer: The whole-tone scale. Source: Wikipedia, Whole-tone scale, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0010
  • A melody uses a scale with five notes per octave, where the major and minor scales have seven. Which scale is it? Answer: Pentatonic. Source: Wikipedia, Pentatonic scale, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0010
  • A phrase drives to V7, and the chord that follows is vi where the ear expects I. Which cadence did the composer write? Answer: Deceptive cadence. Source: Wikipedia, Cadence, Common classifications. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0011
  • A teacher arranges a folk tune so that a second group begins the same melody two measures after the first and imitates it throughout. Which technique is this? Answer: Canon. Source: Wikipedia, Canon (music), lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0012
  • Between two chord tones a third apart, a melody steps through a note outside the chord and keeps moving in the same direction. What is that note? Answer: A passing tone. Source: Wikipedia, Nonchord tone, Unaccented. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0011
  • How does the exposition of a fugue begin? Answer: One voice states the subject alone in the tonic key. Source: Wikipedia, Fugue, Musical outline. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0012
  • In 6/8 the eighth notes are grouped in threes. What kind of time signature is that? Answer: Compound. Source: Wikipedia, Time signature, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0009

Subarea IV: Music history and culture 9

  • A composer orders all 12 notes of the chromatic scale into a tone row so that no one note is emphasized. Which technique is this? Answer: Twelve-tone technique. Source: Wikipedia, Twelve-tone technique, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0014
  • An oratorio shares its choir, soloists, orchestra and arias with opera. What sets opera apart from it? Answer: Theatrical spectacle: sets, props and costumes. Source: Wikipedia, Oratorio, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0013
  • An orchestral piece with no sung words sets out to tell a story or paint a scene. What is such instrumental music called? Answer: Program music. Source: Wikipedia, Program music, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0014
  • At a powwow, which song do the host drummers typically sing first to open a session? Answer: A grand entry song. Source: Wikipedia, Pow wow, Organization. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0015
  • Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel are counted the two leading figures of a movement that favors mood and atmosphere, though Debussy rejected its name. Which movement? Answer: Impressionism. Source: Wikipedia, Impressionism in music, History. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0014
  • In a Baroque concerto grosso, what is the concertino? Answer: The small group of soloists. Source: Wikipedia, Concerto grosso, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0013
  • In medieval organum, what was done to a plainchant melody? Answer: At least one voice was added to it. Source: Wikipedia, Organum, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0013
  • Ragtime grew up in African American communities in the late 19th century. For which feature is the style noted above all? Answer: Its syncopated, "ragged" rhythm. Source: Wikipedia, Ragtime, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0015
  • Western swing filled Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa nightly from 1934 to 1943. The style grew out of country music and which other tradition? Answer: Jazz. Source: Wikipedia, Western swing, lead. Written to the OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201) framework, competency 0015

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test design and framework of Oklahoma Subject Area Tests field 201, Instrumental/General Music, in the study guide on the Certification Examinations for Oklahoma Educators website (https://www.ceoe.nesinc.com/Content/StudyGuide/OK_SG_OBJ_201.htm, copyright 2021 Office of Educational Quality and Accountability and Pearson Education, Inc.; test page https://www.ceoe.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/OK201_TestPage.html, read 2026-10-15): 80 selected-response questions and 1 constructed-response assignment in 4 hours, passing score 240; selected response weighs Listening Skills (competencies 0001 to 0003) 20%, Instrumental Performance and Music Methodology (0004 to 0008) 27%, Music Theory and Composition (0009 to 0012) 23% and Music History and Culture (0013 to 0015) 15%, and the constructed response (0016) 15%. The bank holds 50: 12, 16, 13 and 9. The real listening questions are heard through a headset; here each recorded example is described in words. Every fact was read on the public page named under its question: the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Fine Arts, the U.S. Copyright Office and the named Wikipedia articles. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

This OSAT instrumental music study guide is free, unofficial and not affiliated with Oklahoma's Office of Educational Quality and Accountability or Pearson: 50 practice questions of our own on Instrumental/General Music, field 201, each with the public source of its answer.

Read the full guide

OSAT Instrumental/General Music (201): four selected-response subareas

By the framework on the CEOE site, read October 15, 2026: Listening Skills is 20% of the test, Instrumental Performance and Music Methodology 27%, Music Theory and Composition 23%, and Music History and Culture 15%. Our 50 questions split 12, 16, 13 and 9.

Listening without sound

The test page says the test includes a headset for the Listening selected-response questions. This page has no sound, so each of its 12 listening questions describes the recorded example in words.

The written assignment

A constructed-response assignment on music teaching carries the last 15%. This page has no practice for it, and its exam mode runs without a clock.

  • Competency 0008 names General Music in Oklahoma's core curriculum, so two questions rest on the state's fine arts standards.
  • The test page gives the format as a computer-based test and lists no online proctoring.

Questions and answers

Is there an official OSAT Instrumental Music study guide?

Yes. The CEOE site has a study guide for Instrumental/General Music (201), and this page is built on its test design and framework. No sample question from that guide appears here, in its own words or in others.

How many questions are on the OSAT Instrumental/General Music test?

There are 80 selected-response questions, the listening ones heard through a headset, and one constructed-response assignment. The appointment is 4 hours 15 minutes: 15 for a tutorial and nondisclosure agreement, then 4 hours of testing.

What is the passing score for OSAT Instrumental/General Music?

A score of 240 passes, the test page says. That score includes the written assignment, so the count of right answers on this page is not converted to it.

What is on the OSAT Instrumental/General Music test?

Recorded examples to analyze; string, keyboard, wind and percussion instruments, ensembles, conducting and teaching methods; notation, melody, harmony and arranging; and Western, United States and world music history.

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